A hard case to Crack
by Posessed-by-the-music
Summary: This is what it will be like if and when Booth and Brennan get together. includes moments between Angela and Hodgins. Chapters 15 and 16 are up, ch 16 is the final chapter, case closed! Plz r & r! Sorry about the delay in posting new chapters.
1. Affairs of the Heart

Chapter One: Affairs of the Heart

It was about 9.30am in the morning and Dr. Temperance Brennan had decided to take the day off work. Because last night a specimen of human bones had been delivered to the Jeffersonian to be identified, and normally Brennan would still be there identifying them. But one thing was different this time, she already knew the Identity of this person.

Tempe Brennan was a workaholic; everyone including Booth had told her that, he always said she needed to get out more, meet people. Angela Montenegro, Temperance's best friend at the Jeffersonian, was always saying to her, "Now sweetie, you really could use some male company!" and Brennan always replied by saying, "I'm fine on my own!", or "I don't need a man!", something that made her sound independent and strong, which is what she was, she liked being alone.

But on this particular day, she felt more lonely than usual, yeah she actually felt lonely, Booth would be surprised, she thought. She was still in her PJ's and was just about to get up off the couch and get herself some breakfast when there was a knock at her front door. Who would come to her house at this hour of the morning, especially when she was supposed to be at work—maybe it was someone _from_ work coming to check up on her, just what she didn't want.

"Coming!" she yelled from the kitchen. But before she had a chance to get to the door, it opened and in walked Special Agent Seeley Booth, her colleague and friend, as suspected, coming to check up on her.

"Booth, what are you doing here?" she asked him in surprise and slight anger, she was mad now. "My door was locked, how did you.." she was puzzled.

"Let's say you should hide your spare key better" and he holds up Brennan's spare key to show her.

"If you're here to check up on me, I'm fine ok, I don't need a babysitter!" walking back into the kitchen to finish what she was doing.

"Hey easy Bones, I'm just being a shoulder to cry on—that's if you need one that is!" he said in surrender, he emphasised this by putting his hands up in the air in a surrender, like people do when they have a gun pointed at them.

"I'm fine Booth, you didn't need to come round and see me" she got her cereal and began walking over to the couch to sit down, but Booth stepped in front of her, putting his hands on her shoulders as if to stop her.

"Look, Bones, Tempe, I'm worried about you, we all are. Can we at least talk about this?" he asked, concerned.

She pulled away from him. "There's nothing to talk about Booth, my mother's dead and that's the bottom line, the end of the story!" This brought Brennan to tears. She started to walk away, but Booth pulled her back towards him, took the cereal bowl out of her hands and placed it on a coffee table nearby and hugged her. He hated seeing his friend and partner like this, more than anything he wanted to help her find her mother's killer, but he knew Temperance was stubborn and liked being independent with everything, but maybe, just maybe, he hoped, she'd let him help her, just like he'd let her help with the mobster case that nearly cost Brennan her life.

"Hey it's ok, you cry, get it all out" said Booth, trying to do his best shrink impression. Brennan pulled away and looked at him weirdly, sniffling and wiping away some of her tears.

"What, are you my shrink now?" she asked him. Booth got his hand and wiped a tear off her cheek and from under her eyes.

"I can be whatever you want me to be" He told her, brushing away some strands of hair that had fallen on her face. He looked at his partner and friend sincerely, as he had always wanted to. Tempe sensed something, pulled away, grabbed her untouched cereal from the coffee table and walked into the kitchen to sit there and eat. She tried to ignore Booth but couldn't, he was still there.

"Bones- I mean Tempe" walking closer toward her, "look, I'm just trying to do the right thing and be here for you, you don't have to talk to me, but you can at least listen to me right?" he told her, he was trying to do his best.

What he wanted more than anything right now was for Brennan to open up to him, let him in, but he knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.

"You know, I can help you with the case, you need some kind of authority to help you track down this murderous son of a bitch. I just wanna let you know that I'm your guy!" he said, trying to get through to her, trying to get her to show some expression other than a mopey one, but all she did was stare down at her cereal and shovel it around the bowl with her spoon.

But then, breaking progress, Temperance spoke.

"I want you to help me, can you help me find my mother's killer, it would mean a lot to me to have you on the case" she told him.

Right then Booth's heart almost literally jumped into his throat, that's what he wanted to hear all along, he never thought he'd see the day.

"You already know my answer Bones" he told her, putting his arm around Brennan's shoulder and kissed the side of her head.

Right then Temperance felt so happy, knowing that her friend was gonna help her find her Mother's killer, that she did something she wouldn't normally do in a million years, she turned around on the kitchen bar stool and half stood up and kissed Booth on the mouth.

Booth didn't know if this was a dream or not, but it sure felt good, he had secretly wanted to do that for such a long time, but the unexpected had happened, Brennan kissed Booth, not the other way around!

So he reciprocated this and kissed her back. And there they stayed making out for a while, like they had both wanted this for such a long time that they had better make the most of it while it lasted.

Meanwhile back at the Jeffersonian, Angela, Jack and Zach have been working on another case, they didn't want to touch Brennan's case without her permission, and they all knew how stubborn she was. In the mean time they were hypothesising about what Brennan and Booth had been getting up to back at Brennan's house, Angela was the one who had sent Booth over there in the first place to check on her, she could see the obvious chemistry between them, or "sexual tension" as she liked to call it, because they were always disagreeing with almost everything they ever did together.

Angela thought they'd make the cutest couple if they ever got together, but secretly, her own secret by the way, everyone knew, she had a crush on Booth, she thought he was the hunkiest FBI Agent to ever walk the planet. But little did she know, he was in Brennan's territory now.

Back at Dr. Temperance Brennan's house, Booth and herself had moved to the couch and were laying in each other's arms talking about what had just happened. Neither of them regretted it, both had wanted it for a long time.

"You can't tell anyone about this" stated Brennan.

"I don't intend to" Booth reassured her. "I don't kiss and tell"

This got a smile out of Brennan, a rare event, but Booth had seen many smiles from his partner, all of them when she was around him.

"So when do you wanna go back to work?" He asked her.

"Shit!" She sat up suddenly, "I forgot all about work. We have to go!" Brennan got up off the couch ran into her bedroom to get ready for work.

"But I thought you wanted to take the day off today?" he asked. She replied by saying "How can I afford to take a day off when my mother's killer is still out there!" she told him, and ran into her room.

"Do you want me to wait for you?" Booth yelled from the living room.

"Ah—yes please, I need to put my car in for a service, oil check" she said

"Ok. I could check it for you if you want, I'm pretty good with cars"

"No thanks. I'd rather have a professional do the job. But thanks for offering" she told him.

"What are you saying, I am a professional! I know quite a lot about cars!"

"I'm sure you do. But let me just remind you Seeley Booth of who changed your Crown Vic's tyre when you got a flat out when we were investigating that black bear case in the Virginian woods!" she said with attitude

"Ok ok, I confess—but that _was_ a one time event, I'm perfectly capable of changing a tyre myself!" He didn't know what else to say, once again he was outsmarted by Dr Temperance Brennan, a woman. He was embarrassed but no way was he going to let it show, especially not to Brennan, He was never going to live this one down.

"Ok whatever you say big, smart FBI man. Just wait for me, I won't be too long. Grab a soda out of the fridge if you want" she said, as if she and Booth were a married couple, Angela always said they fought like one.

Not long after, Booth and Brennan were in the car and on their way to work. Booth was driving and Brennan was in the passenger seat. Booth noticed that Brennan was being unusually quiet this morning, especially after what happened earlier that morning. He thought he should bring it up.

"So, this morning" Booth said. Brennan was immediately snapped out of her quiet trance, she looked at him.

"This morning?" she asked.

"Yeah, don't you wanna talk about it?" Booth really wanted to talk about this; he didn't want it to be a mistake.

"There's not much to talk about. You and I both know what happened this morning, and we both know how we feel about each other" She told him.

"Do we?" asked Booth. "Coz I don't think we do. That's why I wanna talk about this, if that's ok with you"

"Ok. Well, it was real I can tell you that much" she said.

"It was?" Booth swore he felt his heart skip a beat just then.

"Yeah, I thought you knew that?"

"You didn't tell me"

"Well, I'm sorry" Brennan pauses, then speaks again, she never thought she'd say what she was about to say, not to Booth anyway, even though she felt like she had known him all her life, this was a big step for her. But she was gonna say it because she knew he felt the same, she could see it every time he looked at her. She swallowed and spoke.

"Booth" she said, she didn't know how to say this.

"Yeah?'

"Booth, i—I love you"

At that moment, Booth wasn't concentrating on the road and had almost driven onto the opposite side of the road and into oncoming traffic; another vehicle's horn snapped him out of his trance.

"Booth!" yelled Brennan. She almost had a heart attack then.

A moment later, they were back into the speed they were travelling at before Brennan took away Booth's attention from the road, which was a bit over the speed limit with Booth's driving. Tempe always liked to annoy him by complaining about his driving.

"Maybe if you weren't driving like a maniac in the first place you wouldn't have drifted into oncoming traffic" Brennan teased with a smirk.

"What, I wasn't driving like a maniac, that is how I normally drive, you distracted me!" he argued. She got him, score.

"I'm joking, sorry" she confessed.

"Bones, you nearly killed us. Please don't do that again"

"What, say that I love you? It's not very often I get to say that. He has to be someone pretty damn special" she told him.

With this Booth pulled his Crown Vic over onto the side of the highway. He leaned in close to Brennan and stared into her eyes.

"Yeah but next time, don't do it while I'm driving ok?" Tempe thought he sounded sincere.

"Ok, promise. But you have to reciprocate"

"What do you mean?" This was the usual Seeley Booth response. Tempe knew him all too well. And she knew how to handle him.

"Booth!"

Booth smiled his embarrassed "I've been exposed" smile, Which Tempe loved, and leaned in closer than he already was, and kissed her. Then he just said "I love you too Bones" and sat back up in the driver's seat, pulled the Crown Vic back onto the busy highway and continued driving to the Jeffersonian Institute where they had a very important case ahead of them.


	2. Troubled Case

Chapter Two: Troubled Case

It was heading towards midday when Agent Booth and Dr Brennan arrived at the Jeffersonian Institute. Angela, Zack and Hodges were already at work examining another corpse when Brennan and Booth walk past and into Brennan's office.

"I knew it would work. I'm so smart" chimed Angela. Her and Hodges had made a bet, Angela betting _for_ Booth convincing Brennan to come back to work, and Hodges _against_. Angela had clearly won. Jack Hodges was more pissed off that he had lost against a woman. Angela just wanted her cash.

"Hand it over" She demands.

"Ok, ok!" He reluctantly hands Angela $100 out of his wallet. While Jack and Angela were more focused on the bet, Jack on him getting beaten by Angela and Angela herself winning the bet over Jack.

Zach comes up behind them and says "So what do you think happened over there. I mean, convincing Dr Brennan to do anything is pretty tough, Agent Booth must have the magic touch"

"I agree" says Angela "He must have worked that FBI Special Agent charm he has"

"Wait, how do you know Agent Booth has 'Special Agent charm'?" asks Hodges.

"Oh, don't worry, I know" she says, and goes back to sketching the skeleton she was working on.

"Don't I have charm?" Asks Hodges.

Zach just glares at him and shakes his head.

"What?' Hodges asks, clearly confused.

Meanwhile in Tempe's office, Brennan is again sitting at her desk staring at the few random objects laid out in front of her, which included her Mother's dolphin belt buckle.

"Bones, we can take this thing slow if you want" Says Booth, sitting on Tempe's antique brown leather couch opposite her desk.

"No, I just wanna get this case over and done with, I want it closed and solved" she told him.

"I know" kinda disappointed, he really wanted to talk about them, but he respected Brennan's decisions, if she wanted to concentrate on finding her Mother's killer, that's what they would do, there would be plenty of time for them later.

"So are there any new leads, anything at all, that's come up in the bones?" He asked her

"None yet" She said, still sitting at her desk staring at and fiddling with her Mother's objects. They included her brother's green marble, her Mother's dolphin belt buckle and an antique wooden box that inside has a photo of her Mother, Father, her Brother Russ and herself, they were all much younger in the photo, Tempe herself being about six years old. Tempe held the small wallet sized photo and stroked the image of her Mother with her index finger.

"Alright then, do you want me to leave you here to go over the ev—" he was about to say evidence, but decided not to. "I'll talk to you later then. I've got a few things I have to do back up in my office"

Brennan doesn't respond

"Temperance, are you sure you're ok?" He asks her one more time just to make sure.

"Yeah Booth, I'm fine" she says.

"Ok. Well I'll see you later then" and he begins to walk out when Tempe speaks.

"Booth, wait"

Booth stops in his tracks and spins back around on his heel slowly

"Yeah"

Temperance gets up and runs over to him and kisses him.

"See you later" she tells him, then turns around and walks back to her desk with a stride in her step and a smile on her face.

Booth also has a smile on his face and a stride in his step as he walks towards the elevator up to his office, unbeknownst that Angela, Zach and Hodges had been watching all of this.

"Case solved" says Angela, holding her sketch pad.


	3. Friction

Chapter Three: Friction

The phone rang in Booth's office. He was so happy that he'd been working out on the personal gym he had installed in his office to keep himself fit, which consisted of weights, a treadmill and an exercise bicycle. As soon as the phone rang he immediately jumped up and picked it up and said in his half breathless and over excited voice, "Booth"

"Hey its me" said the voice on the other end.

It was Tempe, he was even more excited now.

"Hey, what's up" he said

"Hey why are you out of breath?" she asked him

"oh I was working out" Booth told her

"Working out?" Brennan was clueless "On what?"

"Haven't you seen my own personal gym?"

"No" Tempe paused for a second and thought 'personal gym.. in his office?' Then she thought out loud "You have a gym in your office?"

"Yeah, so I can work out while im working, pretty cool huh?"

"Yeah awesome" she said, half enthused. Booth could sense something was wrong in her voice.

"Ok, spill"

"Spill?"

"Something's up, I can tell"

"Nothing's up but the sky Booth"

"Ha ha, very funny, Bones, I can read you like a book.. sometimes.. but right now you're like a trashy romance novel about break ups and heart ache and bad relationships. What's up?"

"You read trashy romance novels?" she said. Booth knew she was a hard nut to crack, but he was gonna crack her, he'd done it before.

"Temperance Brennan!"

Brennan was stunned, no one ever called her by her full name all at once unless she was really in trouble, now she knew Booth was being serious. Brennan was being sarcastic and stupid.

"Sorry. Ok you wanna know what's up, why I called you?"

"Yeah I do" he told her.

"Ok well, Angela, Zach and Hodges won't get off my case about you, about me and you"

"Since when has something like this bothered you Bones?" He was concerned now. Was she really having second thoughts and regrets about them, he thought. He shook it off, no, couldn't be. But he had to ask, just to be sure.

"Bones?"

"Yeah, I'm here" she said.

"What's wrong? You can tell me, I'm one of your closest friends right? And now the man you love, you can tell me anything"

"Ah—about that. That's the reason I'm calling you. I think we need to keep out relationship strictly outside the office"

"But—but why?" he said it like a little child would, when told they couldn't do something that they wanted to

"No buts Booth, you said it yourself, inter-office dating can cause friction in the workplace and wars between colleagues" she told him

"I hate it when you get all technical on me"

"Booth, I'm being serious here"

"So am I Bones" he was starting to get annoyed "Ok well, if you didn't want there to be an _us_, all you had to do was say so in first place!" Obviously sounding mad and disappointed.

"Booth, I'm sorry, I do want there to be an _us_ ok, but what I don't want is for _us_ to cause friction in the workplace. We can still be together, but we just have to tone it down a bit when we're at work"

"Ok" Booth replied. Still unsure.

"That means definitely no kissing, not so much hugging and no flirting" she stated

That's the last thing Booth wanted, was for Brennan to, 'set down the rules" or 'draw a line' or 'set a boundary', however you wanted to put it. He hated it when she did that. He wanted her to loosen up and open up to him, not close down and almost push him away. But then he stopped and thought about it for a second, 'maybe she's right' he thought, 'we can still be together, but not at work' That sounded like a plan, ok! He said that to himself as if he'd engraved it into his memory permanently.

"Ok, deal" he said at last.

"Ok good. So you understand?"

"Yeah, I understand" he didn't really, but just said it to make Tempe happy.

"Good. I just wanted to clear that up." She said.

"Now that's out of the way, do you wanna get some dinner with me tonight? Italian?" He knew how much Tempe loved Italian food.

"You don't give up do you?" she said with a laugh

"You know me Bones" another typical Booth response.

"Ok can you pick me up at seven pm?"

"Ok, seven it is" Booth told her. They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone.

Seven would give them plenty of talking time followed by drinks, maybe dancing if Tempe was up to it and let the rest of the night unravel itself.

Tempe finished work at five pm so she figured that would give the both of them plenty of time to get home, shower and get ready before the date.

Tempe liked the sound of that word '_date_', it was something she hadn't done in a long time and it made her feel young and alive. She liked the sound of dating Booth as well, he was handsome, rugged and charming, not to mention that he fell into the category of tall, dark and handsome, (she'd already mentioned _handsome_, but who cares) she laughed to herself. She was too excited to continue with what she was doing before she rang Booth, so she decided to go see what Angela was up to in her office. She thought she might tell Angela about herself and Booth, but only if she promised to keep her gossiping mouth tightly closed, Brennan smirked.

As Tempe was walking to Angela's office, Booth walked past. Tempe didn't know what he was doing down here but it was probably to see her, she gave him a warm smile, he returned one, and Tempe continued toward Angela's office. But what she was unaware of was that Angela had been discreetly watching them, whilst pretending to sketch.

"Hey sweetie" Angela said as Tempe entered. "How's Booth today?" she said with a smirk.

"I dunno, fine I suppose" replied Tempe as she took a seat on Angela's couch.

"Fine? I think you'd know how he is, haven't you been spending every spare moment with him?" Angela asked her.

"No"

Angela gives her an 'I don't believe you' glare.

"Well I did speak to him on the phone not long ago, if that's what you mean"

Angela put down her sketch pad and came and sat down next to Tempe.

"Sweetie, I think it's good that you and Booth have finally sorted out your feelings. He's a great guy for you. And it really helps that you guys are close friends already right?"

"Ang, Booth and I aren't—" she decided to give up denying it, Angela already knew, give it up Tempe, she said to herself. "Ok, we are, we're going out tonight, but you know I'm not one to kiss and tell"

"oh I know. It's ok sweetie, your secret's safe with me"

"Thanks" she starts to get up, when Angela speaks again.

"But you know, your secret won't be a secret much longer if you guys don't stop eyeing each other in the hallways"

Tempe stopped short, "how did she know?" she said to herself. She couldn't put her finger on it. Tempe looked at her watch; it was almost five, 4.42pm to be exact. As she was walking back to her office, Booth stops her in the hallway.

"What are you doing?" she asked him as he pushed her up against a wall.

"Nothing, I just had to see if you're ok" he told her.

"I'm fine"

"I just had to make sure"

This wasn't like Booth, Tempe thought, well it was, in his obsessive way, but not this.

"Can't you wait till tonight?"

"Not really. I wanted to see you" he told her, and leaned down to kiss her neck.

"Booth, we can't do this here" she tells him. Booth continues kissing Brennan's neck, and moves up to kiss her on her mouth, but Brennan pushes him off.

"Booth, I mean it, stop!"

Booth stops and looks at her.

"Sorry, I just wanted to kiss you again"

"Well you're gonna have to wait till after we leave this building. Can you give me a ride home?"

"Sure. See you in fifteen minutes or so" he kissed Tempe on the cheek and heads back up to his office.

Tempe felt flushed and red and embarrassed, she looked back to see if anyone had seen what had just happened and Angela was standing in the door way of her office with a huge smile on her face. She was happy for her best friend. As Tempe walked away, Angela shook her head and went back to work until finish time.


	4. Advice goes both ways

Chapter four: Advice goes both ways

Brennan looked at her antique wall clock, it said 6.25pm, Booth would be here soon, she thought. Just enough time to add the finishing touches to herself, since when did Tempe Brennan care about her appearance, she could go out in trackie dacks and not feel uncomfortable, but she wanted to feel extra special for the new man in her life. Well actually Seeley Booth wasn't new in her life, she'd known him for years, he was just new in the romance and dating department of her life.

As Tempe applied the last of her make up, the door bell buzzed. She looked at the clock again, it was just about 6.30pm, if it was Booth, he was way too early, so it couldn't be Booth. Seeley Booth had a tendency of being late.

Tempe walked to the door as she finished fixing her favourite pair of earrings to her ears; they used to be her mother's, so they were very special to Tempe. As she looked through the peephole in to the hallway, she was expecting to see a tall masculine figure, but instead she saw dark brown wavy hair that defiantly didn't belong to Booth. She recognised the hair straight away as Angela Montenegro's, her best friend from the Jeffersonian. Tempe unlocked the latch and let her in. She was surprised to see her.

"Ang, you know I'm getting ready for my date, what are you doing here?"

"I know sweetie, I just wanted to give you a little advice and help you choose an outfit, but obviously I'm a bit late"

"Thanks Ang, but this is Booth I'm going out with tonight, I know him like the back of my hand"

"Yeah I know. Anyway I just wanted to wish you luck" she told her friend.

"What do I need luck for, as I said, this is Booth"

Just as Tempe said that, the doorbell buzzed again.

"Another well- wisher Tempe?" Angela asked teasingly

"No, it's probably Booth" she said she walked to the door. And she was right, it was Booth alright. Tempe unlocked the door and let him in.

"Hey" he said as he walked in, stealing a kiss as he went past.

"You're early" said Tempe.

"Yeah" he chuckled "now I've got a reason to be early"

That comment hit Tempe right in the heart, she felt so warm and fuzzy and loved, and she smiled to herself.

"You ready to be blown off your feet?" said Booth.

"What have you got planned?" she asked him with a flirty smile. She walked up to him and put her arms around his shoulders.

"Well if I tell you it won't be a surprise now would it?" he teased.

"Seeley Booth you are so sneaky" said Angela. It's like Booth didn't even notice she was there.

He looked over and saw her standing there with he hands on her hips. Angela hated being ignored.

"Oh hey Angela" he said finally, then fixed his attention back on Tempe. He leaned down and kissed her. Angela was getting frustrated now, she hated this, but at the same time she was happy for her friends.

"Ok, well I'll see you later guys. Have fun"

"Thanks Ang" says Tempe, taking a breath from her make out session with Booth to say goodbye to her friend. "See you tomorrow"

"Bye Angela" says Booth.

"Bye guys" she says and walks out the door, closing it behind her.

She felt a bit helpless and jealous, but at the same time she knew Tempe was perfectly capable of handling things herself, Angela just liked helping people. She considered herself and Jack Hodges love doctors. She smiled at this thought. Then she thought about something else, the time when Jack had given her the same type of rose Romeo gave Juliet, a grand romantic gesture, Angela thought. At that very moment Angela couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt, she hadn't thanked Jack for the rose, or shown any signs of interest to dating him, she did like Jack, he was a real gentleman, it's not very often you come across one of those, she thought. So she made herself go and see him. You like him Ang, go and thank him for the rose and tell him you'd love to go on that date, she told herself. Very soon Angela Montenegro will realise she did the right thing by listening to her heart.


	5. The body under the Table

Chapter Five: The body under the table

Tempe and Booth were seated at a table at one of Brennan's favourite Italian restaurants and were sipping their beers and talking when Tempe got a phone call. She hated receiving calls when she was off duty, she just wanted to be left alone, some people have a nerve, she thought to herself, don't they have a life too. She apologised to Booth and took the call. Booth was tossing the salad around his plate with his fork, trying not to listen to Tempe's conversation, but he couldn't help himself, he tuned in.

He thought she always sounded so professional on the phone; he liked professional women, why was it that he was always attracted to professional women, _I don't know_, he said to himself. Then his interest piked, there was something in Brennan's voice that sounded shocked. She hung up and turned her attention to Booth with a scared and wide- eyed look on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked her. Something didn't seem right.

"There's a—" she paused, her voice shaken with fear. She tried to speak again "Booth, there's a bag underneath this table with a corpse inside"

Something about what she just said didn't seem right.

"A body? Well why don't you take a look?" suggested Booth. But something about what Brennan said still seemed unusual to him.

Then Brennan told him the rest of the message. When Booth heard this, his jaw literally dropped to the table.

Brennan told him that under the table where they were seated there was a gym bag with a corpse inside. And strapped to the corpse, was a bomb, with a timer that had ten minutes left on the clock and was slowly ticking down second by second. Both Brennan and Booth couldn't get up from the table otherwise the bomb will explode, and they couldn't ring for help, otherwise the bomb will go off also. They were stuck, helpless. But Tempe had a plan.

Meanwhile, at Jack Hodgins' apartment, he and Angela were reclining on the couch talking about the things they had in common, work was one of those. Angela told him she admired his interest in bugs and fungi and weird stuff like that. Jack told Angela he loved her sketches and thought she was the best, most talented artist he's ever seen. Angela was flattered by his compliments and thanked him with a kiss.

Back at Antonio's, the Italian pizza and pasta restaurant where Booth and Brennan we're being held hostage by a corpse with a bomb strapped to it, Tempe was figuring out a plan. Even though she or Booth couldn't ring for backup, they could talk and tell the restaurant staff what was going on.

"We have to get them out of here Booth" Tempe told him

"Well I don't wanna cause panic, which would just make the situation worse" Booth stated.

"But we've got no other choice Booth!"

"Ok" he said at last. He gathered up his strength and spoke, he was equally as scared as Tempe was, but he had to be brave if he was going to get him and Brennan out of this alive.

"Excuse me everyone, can I have your attention please" he tried to carry his voice out over the noise of their fellow restaurant diners, but it was no use, no one even looked up. He tried again, this time doing what he loved to do to get someone's attention.

"Hopefully this'll work" He said to Brennan. He pulled out his gun from his ankle holster and shot it up in the air at the ceiling.

Brennan was shocked. She hated when he did that. That was such a Booth thing to do, she thought.

"Booth!" she gave him a 'you idiot' glare

"what? Maximum impact" he told her.

That was just like Booth, Tempe thought to herself.

He spoke.

"excuse me, FBI" he shouted

People looked up when they heard the gun shot followed by someone shouting FBI.

"I knew that would get their attention" he said to Brennan.

"Smooth" she replied.

"Listen, I'm sorry for interrupting your dinner, but I want you all to listen very carefully and don't panic ok, there is a bag with a bomb in it, underneath our table. We can't get up and we can't call for help. If we do that, it explodes and we all die. So that's where you come in" he told them.

There was silence in the restaurant, followed by whispers among people, and the odd "oh my God" or "God help us". Booth even saw people praying. Then he got questions fired at him as quickly as his gun went off.

"So what do you want us to do?" asked a man in his sixties.

"Well at the moment, my partner and I are just waiting for further instructions. We'll let you know ok" Booth told them.

Just as Booth finished his sentence, Tempe's cell phone rang. It was the same person who told them the news of the corpse with the bomb. She listened intently. She didn't say anything back to the person on the other end, she just listened. Booth was growing anxious, he wanted to talk to the bastard who had put himself and the woman he loved in harm's way, but Brennan hung up.

"Well?" he asked, his patience was growing thin, when he found the son of a bitch who had done this, he was gonna send him to hell, he thought to himself. Brennan spoke. What she told him made all the hairs on his body stand up on end and a shiver run up and down his spine.

"No one can leave this restaurant; otherwise the bomb will go off" she told him.

"so you're saying that if people start walking out that door, we all die?"

"Yep" she replied

"Then how would the bomb maker know if and when people leave the restaurant?" Booth asked. This situation seemed weird. But Booth was determined to get to the top of this. Then Brennan told him something that made him even more agitated.

"He's in this restaurant"

Meanwhile back at Jack's, him and Angela were settling down on the couch to watch a horror film, one of Jack's favourites, _House of Wax_, the original version. Jack hated the re-make. Angela hated horror films all together, she wanted to watch a romance film like _The Notebook_, one of her favourites, but Jack had talked her into watching a horror film. One of the reasons Angela agreed to it was because she wanted to see if Hodgins was gentleman enough to cuddle her when she got scared. She wondered what Tempe and Booth were up to on their date, knowing Booth, she thought, they were probably at a sleazy motel in bed already, she smiled to herself. But Jack saw her smile.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked her, looking back from putting the DVD in the player.

"oh I was just thinking about Tempe and Booth on their date" she told him, looking back at him from the couch.

"Booth's probably touched second maybe even third base already"

"Nah, not with Tempe he won't, she knows how to control him. They're probably still at the restaurant" Angela said.

She was right, Brennan and Booth were indeed still at Antonio's, and Booth was still super frustrated. They hadn't even ordered their meals yet, which was a good thing, thought Tempe.

"I'm so sorry about this, tonight was meant to be perfect, and look at it now" Booth said. Tempe could tell he was annoyed, not just annoyed, _very_ annoyed.

"Hey, we didn't know this was gonna happen, so you can't blame yourself" Tempe told him.

"I know, but…" Booth was so frustrated he couldn't finish his sentence, but Tempe knew what he was going to say.

"It's ok. As long as we get thought this in one piece, it'll be ok" she told him, trying to reassure him, but it didn't work.

"_In one piece"_, the phrase kept circling round his head. He began having visions of being blown up and not being able to see or kiss or hold Tempe ever again, or his son, Parker, the thought haunted his mind. He shook it off, and then gazed at Tempe. She was frantically looking around the restaurant, trying to find the bomber, the mastermind behind the crazy situation they were in right then. Booth knew it could be anyone, of any race and colour, but bomb makers were usually intelligent.

Some of their fellow diners and now fellow hostages were growing as much impatient as Booth was.

"What do we do sir?" asked a young woman, this question was just one of many.

"Just sit tight and be calm" he told them, but he was just as scared as they were.

Booth drew his attention back to Tempe, she was staring towards the back of restaurant, he followed her gaze, to a man in an expensive looking suit, quite young, he looked of European decent and he was staring right back at Brennan. At that moment, Booth knew they had found their bomb mastermind.


	6. The girl with the Bomb

Chapter Six: The girl with the Bomb

By now, Booth was very agitated and really annoyed. He couldn't get up and arrest the bastard; all he could do was sit there and wait.

Meanwhile back at Hodgins' place, _House of Wax_ was almost over and Angela was fast asleep, with her head across Jack's lap. When the movie was finished, Jack was about to get up when he noticed Angela had fallen asleep. He carefully got up and lifted Angela's head up and gently placed it on the couch, being carefully not to wake her. When he was up he gently placed a kiss on Angela's temple and went to remove the disc from the DVD player and switch off the television. When he had done that, he turned back around and looked at Angela, she wasn't moving she was as peaceful and still as a person who had moved on, but Angela had a lot more colour and life in her than a corpse. Jack thought she looked so angelic, he liked that, Angelic Angela, he thought that summed her up just nicely.

When he was getting to the nice part of his daydream, the part where he's usually making out with the woman he's dreaming of, in this instance, Angela, he was snapped out of his trance by a quiet sigh from Angela and her stirring and finally waking up. She sat up and looked around, she saw Jack staring straight back at her. She gave him a smile and stretched her arms.

"Movie over?" she asked him, half asleep.

"Yeah, about ten minutes ago" he told her.

"Why didn't you wake me?"

"You looked so peaceful and beautiful laying there" he told her.

Angela was flattered by his compliment once again, he really is a gentleman, she thought to herself. She smiled at the thought, stood up, and stretched her arms over her head.

"What time is it?"

"It's around 9.40pm" Jack said, gazing at his watch.

"Mmm too early to be asleep" said Angela, stretching again. "You should have woken me up"

"Well sorry. I'll remember that for next time" he told her, in the smart, funny Jack Hodgins way. Angela loved his humour, which was one of the qualities she fell for; another was his noble gentleman quality. She'd been messed around too many times before by hopeless men, and she knew Jack Hodgins wasn't one of them.

"Well seeing it's too early for bed, what do you wanna do Miss Montenegro? Lady's choice" he said.

"Hmm that's a hard decision" she said, walking up to him teasingly, "But why don't we start from here and see where the night takes us". She puts her arms up over Jack's shoulder's and around his neck and leans forward and kisses him passionately. Jack works his hands up Angela's back and she lets him take off her top, Jack does the same and they decide move their party to the bedroom and continue it there.

Back at the restaurant, Booth and Brennan's bomb maker has come over and is now talking to them about his motives.

"You see, I've planned all this for you Miss Brennan" he said. Booth thought he was a nut job, obviously insane.

"Planned what, what have you planned?" Booth asks, really impatient now.

"Booth it's ok, I can handle this" Tempe tells him, "Who's the girl in the bag?" she asks the Bomb maker.

"I'm just backing you up Bones" he tells her, then turns to the mental case standing in front of them

"Now tell me what you've planned!" demands Booth. "You're insane you know that" He tells him.

"Oh yes I've heard that, many times. But I believe I am not insane, I am simply a fan" he tells Booth.

"A fan?" says Booth, confused.

The bomb maker then turns to Brennan. "The girl in the bag is a young girl by the name of Charlotte Anne Touso. She's just another one of my innocent victims slaughtered for the pure pleasure of honouring my hero, Dr Temperence Brennan" he told her.

"Hero? Now you're really insane" says Booth. Now he was confused, what did this guy want? He was not going to take away his Tempe from him that was for sure.

"Yes, my hero, Dr Temperence Brennan" he says, putting a hand on Brennan's shoulder, she tries to shake him off but he only leans in closer and whispers in her ear. Booth is watching all of this, right now he is fuming, if a person could have smoke coming out of their nose and ears like they do in cartoons that would be Booth. He was more than ready to stand up jump on the psycho bastard, but he couldn't.

He whispers, "I'm going to make you mine Temperance. I just need to kill your bodyguard, and then we can be together". His icy words send shivers up Brennan's spine, she had heard enough, and she turned towards him and spat in his eye. Mr Bomb maker stepped back startled and Temperance grabbed the remote control to the bomb out of his coat pocket and chucks it to Booth. He puts the remote on the table gently and jumps up out of his seat, at long last, his butt was getting numb, but not that he cared about that right now, he had his bomber and stalker. Booth pushed the man onto the ground, rolled him over and hand cuffed him while Tempe rang for back up.

Ten minutes later their man was in the back of a FBI vehicle and under the watchful eye of Booth's fellow agents. While Booth was reporting to his boss, Tempe was standing back surveying the scene, arms crossed and deep in thought. What if the bomb man had accidentally bumped the button on the remote, the one which would set off the bomb and kill every soul in that restaurant, but she knew Booth would never let a thing like that ever occur.

When Booth was finished giving his statement he came over to Tempe and hugged her. She hugged him back. She felt safe with Booth.

"Are you ok?" he asked her, looking down at her, pushing a piece of hair that had fallen onto her face back behind her ear.

"Yeah, I'm fine now" she told him. She was just happy no one got hurt. She was also disappointed that her first date with Booth had gotten ruined by her stalker.

"Do you have any idea who that guy is?" he asked her.

"No, just that he may be a Brennanite"

"A what?"

"Brennanite, a fan from my website. I figured he must have been a fan" she told him.

"Oh" Booth said. He was just glad it was over.

"I'm sorry about our date" he said finally.

"Hey, as I said before, it's ok, as long as I can take a raincheck"

Booth chuckled and hugged her even tighter. He was happy either of them didn't get hurt. He leaned down and they kissed.


	7. Love and Tequila

Tempe arrives at Booth's apartment and knocks three times and waits. No answer. She waits for a couple of seconds then knocks again, this time yelling too.

"Booth, it's me, are you ok"

No answer

She was starting to get worried.

"Booth, open up, I hope you're not mad at me for something, coz we can talk about it"

Again no answer.

"Ok I really didn't wanna do this, but I guess I might have to, im kicking your door down. One, two.."

Then a breakthrough, she could hear movement inside. She tried to peer through the spy hole but no success.

"I'm coming, hold on, don't break my door down, I'm coming" yells Booth. He fiddles with the lock and opens up the door. Tempe was stunned with what she saw. Standing there was Seeley Booth in his underwear, singlet and boxers to be exact. And he smelt really bad of tequila.

"Have you been drinking?" Tempe asked him, though the answer was obvious.

"Yeah" he said, turning away and heading for the kitchen to put on the kettle.

"Coffee, tea?"

"Coffee, thanks. Milk and no sugar"

"I know how you have it Bones"

This was unusual for Seeley Booth to be drinking on a Sunday night, before a busy work week, he wasn't an alcoholic. Tempe figured it couldn't have been Rebecca or the incident at Antonio's, which was over a week ago. She had to find out what was troubling her friend, the man she loved.

"So why were you drinking?"

"coz I needed to drink ok"

He was hung-over and grumpy this morning, Tempe had never seen him like this before, but she thought, _there's a first time for everything, right?_

"Booth please, why were you drinking last night, it wasn't anything to do with me was it?" this was starting to hurt her deep inside.

Booth turned around to face Tempe and placed his hands on either side of her face.

"No, it's not you; I would've told you Tempe" he said.

This was the first time since forever that Booth had called her by her real name; he always called her "Bones". Even though she had told him in the past not to call her that, it was starting to grow on her now, she actually liked him calling her Bones.

At that very moment, there was a moment where Tempe really felt compassion for her friend, and she couldn't help herself, she leaned up and kissed him, putting her hands on his face as well. She didn't care about his Tequila breath, she loved him, and he needed her right now.

He pulled off her jacket and chucked it towards the front door. Tempe kicked off her shoes and pushed them aside as well. Then she slid her hands down his back and felt down to his waist and started to slide her hands up his abdomen and chest and taking off his singlet. They moved over to the couch and continued there. They had forgotten all about the boiling kettle, but they didn't care. Right now, this moment was dedicated to them.


	8. The Bullet in the Agent

Tempe sat at her desk, staring at the pink ceramic pig figurine Booth had bought her a couple of weeks previous, she was obviously thinking about him and their whirlwind romance that had evolved over the past week and a bit and the events that had occurred since then. She was just starting to remember how kissing Booth's Tequila breath tasted, when the thought was shattered by a sudden bursting open motion of her office door. The sound startles her and she looks up and is shocked by what she sees. Standing there was Booth, right hand on his upper left arm, covering a bright red blood stain. His face had almost lost its entire colour and he appeared weak.

"Oh my god, Booth!" she gasps as she lets out a cry. She runs over to him, just reaching him in time to catch him as he collapses into her arms. She screams out for help and Angela dials for an ambulance. It was as if Tempe was having an outer body experience and watching all the events unfold below her, if this was a scene from a movie or a television drama, the scene would be played in silence or with a heart felt song playing over the top. But it wasn't, this was reality.

Tears start forming in her eyes and a lump develops in her throat as she holds him there, unconscious, waiting for someone to come and save the man she loves, she didn't wanna lose him, not now.

A little while later, Tempe is at the hospital, sitting beside Booth's bed, she holds his hand in hers, she's just glad he's ok.

"What happened to me?" Booth asks her. He looks up at her face and sees the fear and pain in her eyes; he lifts his hand, the one with many tubes attached to it, and wipes away a tear that has trickled down her cheek.

Tempe swallows back her tears and tries to swallow back the huge lump in her throat, but no success. She tries to speak but she knows that if she does she'll just break down in tears again.

Booth looks at his friend, his colleague, the woman he loves and immediately empathises with her. He brushes the stray stands of hair out of her face and lifts her chin with his hand.

"Hey, it's ok, I survived didn't i?" He tells her.

"Yeah, you did" she says finally. She reaches for her handbag on the floor and rummages through and pulls out a tissue to blow her nose and wipe away the tears that have ruined her mascara and soaked her skin, but she didn't care about the mascara.

"I just don't know what I would've done if you.." she stops, unable to finish the sentence, she breaks down again and puts her head on Booth's abdomen and cries. He strokes her hair and tells her it's ok, but she keeps on crying. He lets her cry, knowing that would be the best way to "get it all out", in the words of his psychiatrist.

Tempe felt someone touch her shoulder, it startles her and she abruptly sits up straight. She had no idea how long she had laid on Booth's abdomen, but she didn't care, she could lay there forever. Her black mascara tears had left behind evidence on Booth's white hospital gown and her hair was everywhere, but no one cared about that, not even Tempe herself.

It was Angela that had touched her on the shoulder. Tempe looked around and saw her friend standing behind her with a sympathetic smile on her face. Standing next to Angela was Hodgins, offering moral support for his fellow colleagues.

Booth was touched to have all his friends there by his bedside, he loved feeling loved. He watched as Angela hugged Tempe, comforting her friend, he wanted so much to stand up and pull Temperance into his arms and never let her go, but he was still weak and drugged up on pain killers. He just lay there watching her. He didn't mind that she left her mascara on his ugly white hospital gown, it was a little piece of Temperance, and he thought it gave the boring gown some colour.

His attention was soon taken away from Temperance when the Doctor came in to check his vitals and do some tests, what kinds of tests they were remained a mystery to Booth, he had always hated hospitals.

Soon after, Angela and Hodgins said goodbye and left some flowers and a joint card from both of them for Booth on the shelf behind his bed.

"Ok Agent Booth, ready to know the results?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah more than ever" Booth replied. He was getting sick of laying still; he just wanted to get out of there ASAP.

The Doctor had a strange personality that neither Booth nor Brennan could put a finger on and was sporting a large curly mass of hair. Booth thought he was a bit shady because he looked too young to be practising medicine; Tempe thought he must have graduated fast and early.

"Ok, well the bullet didn't cause too much damage to your arm, although it didn't exit, so we had to remove it and that part went really well."

"Remove it? When ?" Booth was confused, _how long had he been out?_ The answer came soon enough.

"You were out for around two hours, just enough time to sedate you and operate" The Doctor told him, it was almost as if this young Doctor could read his thoughts. That was really reassuring, Booth thought to himself. Booth hoped he couldn't hear that one.

"So when can he go home?" Tempe asked Booth's Doctor

"I'll just get you to sign some forms and he should be able to be discharged today"

"That's great. Thankyou." said Tempe, really happy that she can now take Booth home and fuss over him. She smiled at the thought of having to nurse Booth like a big baby. Tempe walked over to Booth and gave him a kiss.

"I'll be right back. I'm so glad you you're ok" she told him.

"So am I" replied Booth. They shared another quick kiss and Tempe leaves to go sign Booth's hospital forms.


	9. The Conspiracy in the Cappucino

In the car ride back to Brennan's house, Booth was getting fidgety and annoyed.

"What's wrong? You haven't said anything the whole way and now you're fidgeting" Tempe states.

"I'm fine" Booth says suddenly. He notices he had just snapped at Brennan. "Sorry Bones"

"That's ok. What's the matter?"

"I'm just worried I'll be out of service for a while so you'll get put with someone else, probably some sleaze who hits on you and calls you sweetheart"

That's such a typical Booth thing to say, Tempe thought, she was shocked. But he was right, she hadn't thought about that, with booth out of action, she would probably be matched with some sleaze bag of a guy who wears expensive shoes and who thinks he's the bee's knees.

"Bones are you ok, now you're the silent one"

Tempe realised she hadn't spoken for at least a couple of minutes now, she realised those thoughts were only in her head and she hadn't replied to Booth's 'being replaced' comment.

"Yeah I'm fine." She says finally.

Then she thinks of something else she forgot to tell Booth about while they were at the hospital.

"You know those papers I had to sign at the hospital?" she says.

"Yeah, the discharge forms"

"Only one of them was a discharge form, the other was the toxicology results"

"Toxicology results? What for?" Booth was confused.

"You were drugged and then shot, that's probably why you didn't feel it when the bullet penetrated your arm"

"Drugged? But how, when?" Booth was even more confused now.

"Well the results said it happened early in the morning. What were you doing this morning?"

"I was out on a case signed to me by the bureau, then I came back to the Jeffersonian and the first thing I did was get a coffee and sit in on a meeting…" He pauses.

Tempe notices his pause.

"What, do you think someone drugged your coffee?"

"No that's impossible because I made it myself from the machine…" He pauses again.

"What?"

"Maybe they did" he says

"But you just said.." Tempe was confused now.

"No, I got up to go to the bathroom about halfway through, and then I came back and finished my coffee. Someone must have slipped something into it then" Booth concluded.

"Ok well if someone drugged your coffee, we'll get to this bottom of this, even if it means sifting through all the froth" states Tempe.

Booth liked her punch line; clever and to the point. Tempe was always coming up with witty remarks and 'punch lines', it was a part of the humour that Booth loved about her. He gave her a witty Booth smile and she returned the favour and continued driving.

They were driving for a few minutes when Tempe realises he had stopped fidgeting, that was probably due to the fact that they had been talking, which obviously kept his mind off his bullet wound, which probably itched like hell.

She decides to engage in conversation once again to keep Booth from boredom.

"So do you think Angela and Hodgins had a good date?"

That was random, she thought.

"Angela and Hodgins went on a date?" he says.

"Yeah, you didn't know?"

"No, unlike you Bones, I'm not in on the gossip circle"

"I don't gossip"

"Uh, yeah you do, remember the time you spread rumours that I was sleeping with Rebecca"

"They weren't rumours, it was the truth"

"Oh well, my point is you don't spread nasty rumours behind.." he stopped.

They were suddenly interrupted by Tempe's mobile cell phone ringing from inside her handbag. She fumbles through the handbag and pulls out her phone and answers it.

"Brennan" she says, again Booth thought she sounded so professional.

Tempe utters a few words to the person on the receiving end and hangs up.

"Who was it?" Booth asks.

"Zach. A couple of kids found a pretty badly decomposed body in a storm drain not far from here." she tells him. She hits the accelerator makes a left turn.

"I thought we were supposed to be going back to your apartment?" questions Booth.

The last thing Booth wanted to gaze at right now was another badly decomposed corpse. He just wanted to get home and relax.

"Yeah well, things change" She tells him. "I promise I'll take you home after, right now I wanna check out these remains"

_Bones always come first_, Booth thought, was he getting annoyed or was he just impatient because he was tired, he couldn't tell. He just wanted to be on a nice comfortable sofa in Tempe's apartment or in his own bed in his own condo, but he knew that wasn't going to happen for at least another hour or two, or more.

He sat in silence on the way to the crime scene and stared out the passenger side window of Tempe's car, reminiscing of what he liked to call the good old times of himself and Tempe together on cases, always disagreeing on something. Boy he was going to miss those times now his Tempe was going to be assigned to someone else.

He snapped himself out of it, as if an invisible hand reached up and slapped him across the face, what was he thinking, he can't let Tempe be assigned to someone else, he wasn't goin to let it happen, no way, not over his dead body. He and "Bones" were a match made in heaven, he wasn't going to watch some other guy work cases with his girl.

_Bones would slap me if she knew I said that_, Booth thought to himself, Tempe was an independent woman and hated being referred to as someone else's girl.

They finally arrived at the crime scene. There were already lots of cars and people at the scene, including news reporters, journalists, local police officers, and Zach and Hodgins. Tempe parked her car and got out. She runs around to let Booth out as well but he has already let himself out. She gives him a concerned look. Booth notices her look.

"What? I can manage, I'm not an invalid" he tells her. Tempe lets it go and walks over to check out the corpse in the drain.

She jumps down into the drain which is a large, flat, open area of concrete nearest to everyone on the bank, and then it continues on for what seems like forever according to Hodgins into small, dark, claustrophobic tunnels. It is only when you shine a flash light into the tunnel you can see the corpse. Tempe crawls in on hands and knees to inspect the find; she had firstly put on her coveralls from the trunk of her car for which she used to keep to her everyday clothes clean. When she reached the corpse she was amazed and shocked to find that the victim had been a young female, most probably in her late twenties, she couldn't see in the lack of good light but Tempe guessed she was Caucasian, maybe of Spanish or Italian decent, most probably European. She had seen enough for today. She crawls back out of the small dark space and tells Zach and the Medical Examiners on scene to bag the remains and send them back to the Jeffersonian for forensic analysis, then she takes Hodgins aside and tells him of her findings. While this was going on Booth was watching the body being excavated from the storm water drain and being put into a black tarpaulin body bag. Then he fixed his gaze onto Tempe, who was talking to Hodgins, he still felt nervous about the probable partner reassignment.

"So you're saying that the victim is of European decent and has dark brown or black hair and is female?" hodgins asks Brennan, trying to get his head around Tempe's cryptic report. Something seemed strange to Hodgins about this case.

"Yes, and is probably in her mid to late twenties" she tells him, and notices a distant but sad look suddenly come upon his face.

"What's wrong?" she asks him.

"Angela's cousin Courtney was recently reported missing, I'm just hoping and praying to God that she's not her" looking over towards the corpse found in the storm water drain.


	10. The Woman in the Storm water Drain

"Well if it is her…" Tempe continued, "I will do everything in my own power to bring the bastard who did this to her to justice. He will meet his maker don't you worry about that". With that Tempe instructed the Medical Examiners and the FBI agents on scene to deliver the body to the Jeffersonian for her to analyse it later, in the mean time, Booth's distantness worried her. He wasn't normally like this; uncomfortable around a crime scene, he normally cracked sarcastic jokes or made witty remarks, today he wasn't himself. Body analysis can come later, she thought to herself, right now this is Booth time, she had to get him home, or rather back to her place.

As she walked to her car, Booth was leaning against the front, looking anxious and again, fidgety.

"Are we going now?" He said.

"Yeah we are, you ready?"

"I thought you'd never ask. I don't know what it is Bones, but today I don't really feel like looking at human remains" He told her.

"Yeah some days I'd rather not either, but it's my job to find these people an identity and give their families closure"

"No it's not that, I don't know, I'm just not in the mood" he said.

"Booth what's been happening lately" she asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean first I find you with a hangover and smelling like Tequila, next you walk into my office with a bullet in your arm. I've got to start asking questions. I'm worried about you that's all"

He looks into her deep gaze and turns away.

"I'm fine Bones" he said. That was the usual Booth method of avoiding a subject of conversation about his personal life. He could have said "Piss off" for all she cared.

Tempe felt like giving up on quizzing Booth about his "Un-Booth-like" behaviour. He was always such a mystery, was she ever going to break through the shield he had put up in defence? _This is so ironic_, Tempe thought; _usually I'm the one with the defence shield_.

She tried one more time to get through to him, _If he doesn't open up this time I should try plan B_, she said to herself. She didn't really have any ideas to what exactly plan B was. _I'll get there_, she said in her head. _Eventually_.

"Please Booth, please tell me what's wrong, it'll help if we talk about it, trust me" She looks at him and followed his gaze to the back of the Coroner's van, which was a black van with no windows in the back doors, only in the driver and passenger side doors, though they were tinted so it was almost impossible to see in from the outside.

"It's my sister" he said finally, disturbing the invisible silent void between them.

"Your sister?"

"That body in the tunnel, that's Lucy".

Tempe stared after the departing Coroner's vehicle; she felt her heart sink deep into her stomach, being attacked by stomach acid, and making its way up her esophageus and into her throat, making her feel like she wanted to vomit. She suddenly felt all the pain Booth was feeling, it was almost as if she was a part of him, sharing his pain.

While she was empathising with Booth, another thought suddenly resurfaced in her twisted mass of brain tissue and nerves; _If that woman in the storm water drain is Lucy Booth, I can now end Ange's grief and tell her that her cousin isn't the woman found in the storm water tunnel by a group of teenagers_.

Now more than ever, Tempe felt anger wash over her and blood rush to her head like the mercury in a thermometer on a hot day. She felt hot too; hot, red and angry. Angry that the sick lowlife that committed this crime was still out there, maybe taking more innocent lives. _I have to take this sonovabitch down_, she said to herself, making a pact and a solemn promise to Booth that she'd give this monster the punishment he deserves.

"Let's go" she said. "I think we've both had enough for one day" that was an understatement. Booth and Brennan both got into Tempe's rusted mustang, Booth taking the passenger side, Tempe driving. She just wanted to get out of that depressing scene. She decided the only remedy for grief right now is a few stiff drinks on the rocks, and she knew Booth was thinking the same thing.


	11. Lucy Booth

Chapter Eleven: Lucy Booth

Tempe arrived at work the next morning, it was about 8.30 am, and she didn't really want to be there because she knew the task she has ahead of her; analysing Lucy Booth's body.

Name: Lucy Booth, Age: twenty seven years old, younger sister of Seeley, dark brown wavy hair, hazel- green eyes and had the complexion of Mocha, well used to. Her skin was an eerie greyish colour now; the colour of death. Tempe stared at her sad helpless face and felt a deep sadness grow inside of her, _who had taken this innocent life, Booth's sister's life, why, how, when, where,_ the questions kept popping up in her head like the numbers in a game of Keno. She was about to go insane, she was screaming on the inside. _I have to get out of here, i have to get far far away from here, run… no_! she stopped herself short, _I can't go, I have to stay here and do this, I have to do this for Booth._

Another thought kept poking at her conscience like the constant throbbing of a migraine, right behind her eye, which was the worst place to have a migraine. The thought was that of her mother, she hadn't closed her case yet, and she might not ever get to, the path to finding her mother's killer still seemed distant and it was almost invisible to Tempe's naked eye. That thought troubled Tempe deeply, more than anything she wanted to give herself closure, but fate has a funny way to twisting itself around someone's life, it was her job to give other people closure, and yet she couldn't find it for herself. _Is that really my fate?_ She said to herself. _Is that really my Mother's fate?_

She couldn't stand this any longer, she decided to go and see Angela, to look at the computer generated image of her mom again. She needed closure. Her Mother needed closure.

As she was walking towards Angela's office she couldn't help but think of Booth, _poor Booth_, she said to herself, _First being shot now his sister being found dead in a storm sewer, no one deserves to have that fate_, again with the fate topic Brennan.

"Hey sweetie, how's Booth?" says Angela. Tempe didn't even notice someone was speaking to her, she was too busy day dreaming, _day dreaming about Booth_, snap out of it Brennan!

"Oh hey, sorry I was just…"

"Hey sorry if I startled you"

"No it's fine. Have you heard from Courtney?"

"Yeah, turns out she was hiking in Peru and wanted to shut herself off from the high- tech world of modernisation"

"Sounds like a reasonable excuse. I'd give anything to do that again somedays, but im not exactly twenty- something anymore"

"Well maybe you should do that Tempe, great stress relief, and take Booth with you" she adds with a wink.

"Thanks for the suggestion Ange, but I've got stuff here I need to do. No holidays for me yet"

"Oh well, there's plenty of time for that isn't there. Now did you want anything?"

"Yeah actually, I got side- tracked, I need to see that image of my mother again" Tempe gives Angela a sincere look and Angela knows exactly what she means.

A couple of minutes later Angela has the generated image of Tempe's mother on her 'Angelator'. When Tempe sees the image again she feels her heart sink into her stomach again, she really had hoped she would see something new in the thousands of sparkling pixels that made up the image on the 'Angelator', but nothing, no new leads, zero, nill, nothing. She turns away from the machine and puts her hands over her face and runs them up through her hair, she felt more screwed than before.

"What am I gonna do Ange, there's nothing there, nothing!" she says, more like yelling at Angela.

"Whoa easy sweetie, it's gonna be ok, we'll solve this ok"

"No it's not that simple alright!" and with that Tempe storms out of Angela's office, goes back into hers, grabs her car keys and heads home, she'd had enough for one day. She had to go spend time with Booth.

Meanwhile back at Tempe's condo Booth was lapping up being 'sick', he's in his singlet and blue boxers, with nearly a whole carton of empty, half crumpled beer cans littering the floor and the coffee table. He's asleep on the couch while the football is playing loudly on the television. There's also a half eaten pepperoni pizza on the ground beside the couch.

Tempe arrives home several minutes later to find the aftermath of cyclone Booth. She surveys the scene of the crime and finds the victim and the suspect asleep right in the middle of it. She turns off the TV and walks over to wake him up, being careful not to tread on any greasy strings of cheese or stale pizza crust that lay in her path. She was absolutely discusted and nearly runs to wake Booth. She shoves and shakes him and he wakes up with a start.

"Oh hey, you're home" he says in a drowsy voice.

"Booth what is this?" she says, using her hand to point out the mess to him.

"Oh I hope you don't mind, you had nothing in the fridge or cupboard so I got pizza"

"Yeah I do mind Booth, you drank all my beer!"

"You had nothing else!"

Tempe sits down in an armchair, almost sitting on a beer can, she throws it away.

"Sorry for yelling, I've just had a tough day"

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Tempe looks up at him, she cant believe he just said that.

"Yeah you can start by cleaning up all this" gesturing to the stale pizza and empty beer cans strewn in every place imaginable.

"Ok sorry" He gets up without much hesitation but burps and gets a waft of his breath "Oh man, I stink, I'm gonna go have a shower then I'll come and clean up ok" He goes to lean down and kiss Tempe but she also smells his pizza and beer breath"

"Ok, why don't you brush your teeth while you're there"

"Good idea" he says, and heads down the hallway to the bathroom.

Tempe decides she'll wait until Booth gets out of the shower to start cleaning up, so she goes into her bedroom and turns on her computer to search for anymore clues in the spreadsheets she had started compiling, one for her Mother, and one for Lucy Booth.


	12. Dreaming won't close the Case

Chapter Twelve: Dreaming won't close the Case

"Bones, Bones?"

Tempe felt someone touching her shoulder but thought it was in the dream she was having, about her Mother, brother, Booth, Angela, Hodgins and Zach. They were all sitting around a large wooden picnic table outdoors, the scenery was unrecognisable. Everyone was laughing and talking and suddenly everything begins to distort and everyone's faces blend together like someone had gotten a large paintbrush and mixed all the colours together into a huge multi- coloured blob. Then Tempe hears "Bones", reality hits her like a lightening bolt, _only Booth calls me 'Bones'_, she wakes up and realises that Booth is standing over her, trying to wake her up.

"Booth?"

"Hey, I've been trying to wake you up for the past two minutes, did you take a sleeping tablet or something?"

"No" she replied drowsily.

"You fell asleep on the keyboard"

She glances at the computer screen, she sees her sad attempt at a spreadsheet glaring back at her and on it an array of random letters, she realises her face must have pressed a few keys, she presses 'control-A' on the keyboard which highlights everything, then presses delete. The now empty document stared back at her.

"Are you ok?" asks Booth. "You nodded off on me"

"Yeah I'm fine, I guess I work too much"

Booth chuckled.

"That my friend is an understatement" he says.

Tempe smiles and stands up and hugs her partner.

"I had a really weird dream" she tells him, still hugging him.

"Really, what was it about?" Booth wraps his arms around Tempe like a blanket and pats her hair. Tempe puts her head on his chest.

"It was my family, all together, all laughing and enjoying themselves, you, Ange, Hodgins, Zach, my brother and my Mom. But I wasn't there, it was like I was observing them from afar, I don't know why I wasn't with them, it's all so.. mixed up" she sniffles, as if drawing back her tears.

"Hey it's ok" he says.

Tempe lifts her head off of Booth's chest and looks him in the eyes. She swallows back the lump in her throat formed by the sensation of crying and kisses him. Tempe really felt like Booth was her family, he was, she felt safe and secure with him, and she wanted it to be that way forever.

A little while later Booth and Brennan are cleaning up Booth's mess in Tempe's apartment.

"Yuck, do you often live like this?" she says to him, overly disgusted, this made her stomach churn more than blood and corpses did.

"Only when im an invalid or can't be bothered" he says.

Tempe glares at him; she's shocked that he even had the nerve to say that.

"What?" he says, seeing Tempe glaring unamused at him.

"You are the worst person to live with you know, you're sloppy, you don't take life seriously, you think this is a vacation"

"Well it is for me Bones, if you've forgotten I got shot in the arm!"

Tempe looks away and realises that she has a tendency to bite people's heads off.

"Look I'm sorry, it's just all this work is getting to me, these cases, my Mother's case, your sister's… some days I don't know how I can cope, but I just do, I just take a deep breath and continue with my work and try not to let my emotions get in the way" Tempe says, pausing from picking up stale pizza crust off the carpet.

"Look I'm sorry for being such a selfish slob, I should of known better" says Booth, concerned about his partner, his closest friend.

"It's just kind of a way I deal with grief, you work, I drink and eat and watch football"

Tempe smiles and then chuckles and continues picking up the remains of Booth's 'grief'.

"What's so funny?" he asks her, puzzled as to why she's laughing.

"Nothing" Tempe says, and continues laughing to herself.

"No, seriously, what's funny?"

"You're such a bloke" she says finally.

"And you're such a… woman"

Tempe laughs harder and shoves him so he loses his balance and falls over, she had cut him and she was proud of it. Booth regains his balance and goes to Tempe back but they both lose their balance and he falls on top of her, they both fall on top of the pizza stained carpet and stare into each other's eyes.

"What do you think my dream meant?" she asks him.

"That we are your family and the reason why you weren't there with us is because maybe we were waiting for you to arrive, because you're always running late and because we were going to surprise you"

Tempe is deeply moved by Booth's account of her dream, that she kisses him passionately. After a while of closeness with Booth she realises that one thing is more important to her than anything else; family and that the dream she had made her realise that the cases will not close on their own; Lucy's and her Mother's killers were still out there.


	13. The surprise in the Envelope

Chapter Thirteen: The surprise in the Envelope

Jack Hodgins woke up in his apartment just like every other day to the same routine, goes into the bathroom to splash water on his face, gets dressed and heads downstairs to pour himself a mug of instant coffee. But this day seemed different, he didn't know how but it just did.

He reaches up into the cupboard above the stove top to get himself a mug when out of the corner of his eye he sees white poking underneath his front door. This is weird he says to himself, heading over to unlock the door and retrieve the white paper envelope from the hallway outside his apartment. He picks it up and looks at it, that's strange, no sender ID, so he takes it back inside, coffee mug in one hand, package in the other, he sits his mug down on the breakfast table and rips open the envelope.

Booth and Brennan arrive at work just like any other day, the cracking of jokes, the flirtatious shove, which Angela always observed, but today she didn't notice them. Something else was on her mind, troubling her deeply.

Tempe sets down her handbag on her desk in her office, steals a quick kiss from Booth before he heads off to the bureau and goes to converse with her best friend Angela Montenegro.

She arrives in Angela's doorway and see her friend staring intensely at a photo on her desk, one of her and Hodgins.

"Hey what's up, I've never seen you this.. serious before, is everything ok?" Tempe asks her friend.

"It's Jack, he's not usually this late, he's the first one here every morning, and he's not answering his phone, either of them, what if something's wrong Tempe!" says Angela, tears start pooling in her lower eye lids, they over flow and trickle down her face, slow at first, then the saline droplets turn into streams, Angela breaks down. Tempe hugs and consoles her friend.

"Why don't we go over there, I'm sure he's ok"

"No he would've called me!" says Angela hysterically.

"Ok let's ok"

Angela grabs her handbag, coat and scarf and Tempe runs to grab hers and they leave to go find Hodgins.

On the car ride over to Hodgins' apartment, Angela grows more and more unsettled.

"When did you last talk to him Ange?"

"Last night, we had dinner at Antonio's and went back to his place for a while and then I left, he asked me if I wanted to stay, but I turned him down, now I feel terrible, I should have stayed Tempe, maybe then I wouldn't be worrying about him so much"

Tempe doesn't say anything and just listens intently. Angela continues.

"He's such a gentleman you know, he always makes me laugh and he's just so cute with everything he does" she pauses and looks down at her intertwined gloved fingers, a lone tear trickles down her cheek.

"Hey will you stop talking about him like he's dead" says Tempe, offering her a hand of comfort on a friend's shoulder.

"Yeah who am I kidding, he's not dead, I bet he just slept past his alarm or his having one of his lazy no work days" pause "But then again, he would've called". Tempe says nothing and shares her gaze between the road and the her upset friend in the passenger seat.

"Drive faster!" says Angela suddenly, it surprises Tempe and she immediately pushes her pedal to the metal and speeds the rest of the way, with the help of Booth's trusty cop siren, she loved switching it on when she was in Booth's car. Booth had dropped his car keys on the couch in Tempe's office when they were 'saying goodbye'. She will return them later.

Five minutes later they pulled up outside Hodgin's apartment block and no sooner had Tempe stopped Booth's SUV had Angela jumped out of the passenger side and was running full speed through the pedestrian gate which was ideally unlocked and towards the elevator. Tempe drove the SUV into the underground car park, parks and heads for the elevators aswell.

When Tempe arrives at Hodgins' apartment she finds the front door wide open and Angela sitting on the floor of the kitchen cradling Hodgins in her arms, he's unconscious and laying adjacent to his limp hand on the lino floor is a plain white paper envelope with white powder spewing from the opening. The events played out in a silent montage just like it did when Booth walked into her office with a gunshot wound in his arm.

Blackness, Hodgin's struggles to open his heavy eyelids and when he finally does bright light makes his eyes water and he wants to close them again, but he doesn't, he wants to see Angela, but all he can see right now are the silhouettes of people, he can't make out who they are, they're just dark shapes moving about the room, then all of a sudden he hears a familiar voice saying his name, "Jack, Jack" it was saying, not softly, but firmly, as if to get his attention,, it did. He opened his eyes fully and what he saw made his heart and stomach do gymnastics, it was Angela, _his_ Angela.

"Hey Hodgie, you're awake, I was so worried about you" she said in her sweet angelic voice, Hodgins was in love with her voice.

"Hey Angie" he said back to her drowsily. "What happened to me, am I in hospital?"

"Yeah you're in hospital, and it seems to me that you were drugged sometime this morning with the same white mystery powder that Booth was drugged with"

"Do you know what it is, what drug?"

"See that's the ironic part, I would normally be asking you this question, seems you're the only one who knows what this substance is"

"Well it was a white powder; it sort of blew up in my face when I opened the white envelope this morning. Have they tested it?"

"Yeah it was weird, it had traces of narcotic mixed with bi-carb soda, citric acid and Anthrax"

Jack Hodgins' eyes lit up.

"Holy… "

"What? What is it?"

"The sonovabitch used my formula but mixed Anthrax in it to make me sick, this is a sicko with brains"

"Most sicko's do have brains" Angela told him.

Just then Booth and Brennan walk into the room, Tempe holding a huge bunch of flowers for Hodgins.

"Hey, and the party's arrived" says Hodgins joyfully, he was so glad to see all of his friends.

"Welcome back to the land of the living" says Booth. He and Hodgins were always poking fun at each other.

"Ha ha Agent Booth, nice try, but I wasn't dead"

"And I wasn't trying" adds Booth with a cheeky smirk.

"Damn you"

Booth chuckles

"I win again, yes!" says Booth punching the air with his fist.

Tempe gives him the 'grow up' look.

"What?"

Tempe keeps staring just to annoy him and starts to laugh.

"Why does everyone always pick on me?"

"Because you always pick on everyone else" replies Tempe, she thought that was an even payback.

"I do not!" complains Booth.

"Ahh I see there's been some development in the romance department" says Hodgins.

Booth and Brennan both look at him at the same time; he was obviously talking about them.

"What?" say Booth and Brennan in unison.

"Don't play dumb guys, Dr Jack Hodgins; Love Doctor knows all"

"Love Doctor?" asks Booth, he quickly glances at Tempe to see if she knows what he's on about, but she doesn't.

"Hey it's ok guys, secret's safe with me and Ange" says Hodgins with a wink.

"It's not really a secret anymore" says Zach Addy, walking into the room "Hey guys sorry I'm late, I got held up"

"Hey man, here's my partner in crime" says Hodgins.

"How about in saving crime, it goes better" says Zach.

"Hey Zach" says Tempe.

"Hey Dr Brennan", Zach was Tempe's Anthropology student and the other fifth of the Jeffersonian 'squints' as Booth liked to call them, or 'skeleton crew', was another name.

"I brought you some photos of 'the crew', coz I didn't know how long you were gonna be in here and a get well soon card and a teddy bear, coz I think you look like a teddy bear" says Zach.

Everyone laughs when they see Hodgins' reaction to Zach's comment.

"Alright, that's it you, I'll get you when I'm strong again so watch out!"

Everyone laughs and Booth grabs Zach's head and gives him a 'noogie'.


	14. The New Agent on the Block

Chapter Fourteen: The New Agent on the Block

Booth's cell phone sounded, he roused, checked the clock beside the bed, it read 6.15am, 15 minutes exactly before the alarm was set to go off. Booth complained with a sigh and hesitantly picked up his cell, it was his boss at the Bureau.

"Sorry about the hour Seeley, but I've got something I need to discuss with you, can you come down to the office?" said Special Agent in charge, Alfred Zelany, the man was a clone of Kurt Douglas and spoke with a deep, well rehearsed actor's voice, the man could've _been_ Kurt Douglas! Booth always told Tempe that he probably waxed his hair and used fake tan every morning, he was so cheesy, those were Booth's exact words when describing his boss. Booth replied with a groan, followed by a "But it's Sunday!". A few sharp words were probably spoken by Alfred and Booth hung up.

Tempe pushed herself up on an elbow and put a hand on Booth's hairy, masculine chest, booth laid back into his pillow and ran his hands over his face, not really wanting to get out of bed on a Sunday morning to go into work, especially when he was laying next to the woman he loved.

"What's up?" Tempe tried again for an answer, this time resting her chin on his chest and moving herself over so that she was almost laying on top of Booth.

"That was Zelany, I have to go in today, God knows why! It's frickin Sunday!" he complained.

"Harsh, but you know I'm probably gonna go to the lab today anyway, why don't I ride with you" she told him. "Why do you have to go in anyway?"

"I don't know, if I knew I wouldn't be complained to you would I?"

"True, but you know, I don't mind if you complain to me"

Booth got up on his elbow and looks into Tempe's eyes, reaching over and brushing away some stray hair that had stuck to her face by sweat due to the clammy, humid weather. He leans over and kisses her, putting his thumb on her bottom lip as if to guide his lips to hers. He lays back into the pillow and Tempe lays down on top of him and kisses him passionately, at that very moment the alarm clock sounded, and the song on the radio was scarily enough, Maroon 5's "Sunday Morning".

"Talk about mental telepathy, I think the Radio DJ knows what we're up to Booth" says Tempe. "I bet you don't wanna go into work now do you?"

Booth sits up with a start, "Shit, I almost forgot!"

"Did he say what time you have to be there?"

Booth thinks for a second, "no, he didn't say"

"Well surely he can't expect you to be at work at 7am on a Sunday morning!" Tempe tells him.

"True". And if almost by magic Booth's cell rings again, he checked caller ID, Zelany, it was as if he was listening to their conversation, another scary mental telepathic moment!

Zelany told Booth to meet him at the Boulevard Café on Main Street at 10 am, and bring Dr Brennan. Phew, that meant a sleep in, or more time with Tempe under the doona.

A good half hour later Booth was laying back in bed, one hand under his head, the love of his life laying on his chest, his world, thinking. He thought of why Zelany wanted him to bring Tempe along to their morning meeting, was it he knew they were together couple- wise? Did he want to discuss their strength as partners and work colleagues? Was he gonna say no dating in the office? Whatever the case it didn't sound too good and he definitely wasn't looking forward to it.

At 9.45am Booth and Brennan made their way down to the café where Zelany was waiting, both were in casual dress, Zelany was in suit and tie as usual.

"Ahh Special Agent Booth, Dr Brennan, how good to see you on such a fine day" Zelany stood up and greeted them with an unusually cheerful tone to his voice, something was up, Booth could sense it.

"Special Agent Zelany" Booth said with a nod in his direction.

"Oh come on, none of that, call me Alfred please"

Booth shot a glance at Tempe, was this guy for real? Something was _definitely_ wrong,

"Ok Alfred, what's this matter you got me out of bed on a Sunday Morning to discuss, and why include Bones.. ah, Dr Brennan?" asked Booth.

"Seeley, I've been examining yours and Dr Brennan's partnership for some time now and it seems to me that there are some threads coming loose"

"Loose threads, what do you mean?" asked Booth.

"Are you saying we're not perfect for each other?" asks Tempe.

"That's one way of putting it" replies Zelany.

Tempe couldn't believe her ears, she was so mad, she scoffed.

"I'll show you loose threads!" says Tempe, she goes over to take matters into her own hands, Booth stops her.

"Bones, Tempe, stop" says Booth, holding her back.

"Did you just hear what he said, how can you let him get away with this!"

"He's the boss; he can do anything he wants"

"And you're not even gonna protest?"

"What's the point, it doesn't matter what I say, our opinions don't count"

"What, of course they do, you can't just let him trample all over you and treat you like vermin! This is us Booth, our relationship at stake, are you gonna let him tear us apart?"

Booth wipes his hands over his face and takes a deep breath.

"Ok, but you know I can't stop him from putting another agent with you"

"You can try, please, for us, I love you Booth, please don't let him take you away from me!"

"I love you too, I'll try" leaning down he kisses her, unaware that Zelany is watching their every move, or maybe they were aware and just wanted to show Zelany just how strong their relationship was.

"Seeley, what's our policy on inter- office dating?" asked Zelany

"Well technically Bones doesn't work in the office" replied Booth smartly.

"But you two work together am I correct?" Zelany already knew that, _why was he_ _asking? maybe he was being a smart ass_, thought Booth. Time to be a smart ass back.

"Tempe and I, we're high school sweethearts, we don't work together at all" Booth offered.

"Nice try Seeley, but the reason I called you and Miss Brennan here today, I wanna experiment with different partners to see their dynamics, see how well they work together"

"But why? Don't Booth and I work well together? I think we work perfectly together, what do you think Seeley?" said Tempe, almost mocking Special Agent Zelany.

"Yeah I agree Dr Brennan, we're a match made in heaven!" Booth replied, they were almost putting on a show for Zelany, at that moment, Tempe felt good about herself.

"Sorry guys, but It's just an experiment, you'll have each other back in two weeks, case dismissed" said Zelany, packing up Booth and Brennan's files and standing up to leave, signalling a waiter for the cheque.

Booth couldn't believe his ears, was Tempe really being taken away from him and being put with another agent, an agent who probably matched his ties with his eyes and polished and re-polished his cruiser if there was but the smallest speck of dirt on it, the thought made Booth shudder, but he couldn't let it get to his head even though he was fuming on the inside.

Back in Booth's condo, Booth and Brennan were discussing the situation.

"I suppose it's only 2 weeks, we still get to see each other, it's not like we're banned from seeing each other right?" Tempe told him, trying to make light of the situation.

"Yeah but the highlight of my career has been to be able to work cases with you, I can't stand the thought of another agent being with you, working MY cases, being with MY woman!" Booth said.

"It's only 2 weeks, will you promise me you won't give this guy crap and talk about him behind his back?"

"I can't believe you're on his side now!"

"I am not on his side! I'm not on anyone's side."

"You're taking _his_ side"

"Look I'm sorry Booth, I don't want this to happen as much as you do, but it is only 2 weeks and we still get to see each other, and at the end we can have each other back ok?" Tempe told him, putting her hands on his masculine chest and moving closer to him.

"Ok" he said eventually.

"Ok" and she pulled him closer and hugged him, Booth leaned down and kissed her passionately.

The next morning Tempe arrived at work, it was around 7.30am and no one else was at the lab yet so she just went into her office, as she entered her office she noticed someone was sitting in_ her_ swivel chair with his feet on_ her_ desk. She just stood there with her hands on her hips waiting for this suited stranger to notice that the owner of this office was here, she waited half a second, nothing, so she decided to clear her throat, success, the stranger spun around pronto.

"Oh am I bad, are you Miss Brennan?" he said.

"_Dr_ Brennan and you are?" The stranger wore odd socks with his expensive looking black tailored suit, and looked nerdy as hell, with a comb over to match, a comb over on a guy less than 60 didn't work at all. Thick, square, black, plastic rimmed glasses and the ugliest tie she had ever seen, she thought Booth's ties were ugly but this guy's tie won the award, it was brown with yellow and green polka dots. Maybe he was going to an ugly tie parade after work, she thought, or a clown convention.

"Call me Hamish, Hamish Whittaker, I'm a new Fed in the Bureau and I understand I'll be taking over from Special Agent Booth"

"Not 'taking over', this is only for two weeks"

"Oh right, yeah I know Special Agent Booth, I heard he's quite the Casanova"

"What are you talking about?" Tempe was puzzled.

"Oh it's just a rumour circulating round the office; I also heard you're quite hot"

Tempe couldn't believe this guy, she felt embarrassed now.

"Right, did you hear this from Booth personally or is it another rumour?"

"I heard it from the horse's mouth, he always talks about you, listen, if you're not doing anything later do you wanna get a drink with me down at Antonio's? That's your local watering hole right?"

"Yeah but I think I'll pass, I'm quite busy today but thanks for the offer" she said, trying to brush him off as polite as possible, though harshly rejecting the guy wouldn't be that hard.

"Oh, can I take a raincheck?"

"I'm busy" Tempe replied, she just wanted him to get his feet off of her desk and his ass out of her office, he was really starting to annoy her. She decided the only way for that to happen was for her to voice her thoughts.

"And can you please take your shoes off of my desk and get out of my chair?"

"Oh sorry Dr Brennan, certainly, anything for a lady"

Ooook, this guy was REALLY getting on her nerves, time for plan B.

"Can you please leave, I've got work to do, thank you"

Prompt and polite, that'll do, she thought.

"Oh I'm sorry, I'll call you later, Special Agent Zelany gave me your number, I shall be in touch, until then" He said, taking her hand and planting a wet kiss on it.

Great, just great, she thought, her stomach did a somersault, she felt like she was going to be sick Why did she have to be put with Romeo in a clown tie, just terrific.


	15. The Nerd and the Dilemma

Chapter Fifteen: The Nerd and the Dilemma

Tempe opened the door for Booth.

"Ok I'm here, what's wrong?" said Booth after receiving a text message from Tempe saying '911 come immediately', he drove briskly over to Tempe's condo to help his friend in need.

"Sir Nerdsville, that's what" Tempe told him "He kissed me on the hand Booth!"

"Oh you mean Whittaker, yeah he thinks he's a 'ladies man', the guys a complete dork" Booth always had an opinion of everyone, usually a negative one.

"Gee thanks, you're supposed to be on my side!"

"There we go with the 'sides' thing again!"

"What?" confused.

"Nothing. So what's your problem with Whittaker?"

"Everything, the guy's ties are worse than yours, they're hideous!"

"What's wrong with my ties?" Booth, defensive, he always tried to act so innocent but nothing got past Tempe, she wasn't only a Bone Doctor but she felt she was a 'Booth Defense' caretaker as well, because that's when the majority of his defensive mannerisms occurred.

"Let's just say yours aren't bad at all compared to Napoleon Dynamite"

"So is that the problem, that's why you messaged me?" Booth asked her.

"No, I wanted to see you"

"Well that's new for you Bones"

"Shut up, and don't call me that" Turning away from him, she took a few steps forward, time for Tempe to go into defence mode.

"Temperance, what's wrong? You always close down when there's something wrong, you always shut me out"

"I thought I could deal with this, but when I saw him yesterday and after he hit on me, I said no way! I can't do this Booth" Still facing away from him.

"Hey, it is only two weeks, you said that yourself, and it's not like I'm leaving the face of the planet, I'm not even leaving!" He told her, grabbing her shoulders and moving around her so he was facing her. "Come here" he said, making her hug him, one of his dirty little secrets to winning Tempe over, and unfortunately, it worked! Tempe reached up and put her arms around his neck, Booth placed his arms around her waist and up her back, and they held that position for a moment and after a while Booth began to sway, like a slow dance, Tempe immediately followed like second nature, dancing to a silent serenade.

Tempe couldn't deny that Booth made her melt inside, her intestines turned to soup like those of a decomposing corpse every time she was near him. But there was still a dilemma hanging in the air; how to handle Agent Whittaker.


	16. One door opens, Another one closes

Chapter Sixteen: One door opens, another one closes.

Tempe's cell phone rang in her handbag, she reached down to grab it but seemed to grab every other object in the bag BUT the cell phone. She finally pulled it out but just as she was about to flip it open to answer it, the ringing stopped, she looked at the number, it was Angela. Although she couldn't ring her back right then and there, she was driving, on her way to the Jeffersonian. She decided to pull over and as she was doing so a maroon sedan came out of no where and side- swiped Tempe's car sending her spinning out of control. All of this happened too fast for Tempe to grab the steering to try to control the car, the sheer force of the collision sent her car into a muddy ditch on the side of the motorway.

Tempe lay there motionless, she had a deep gash on her forehead and the windscreen was partially shattered. She tried to open her eyes but the pain in her head sent shockwaves all over her body, so she just lay there, unable to move a lot, although she had tried to move her leg, but it was trapped underneath the dash of the car. She turned her head to face the passenger seat, there lay her call phone, it didn't look like it was damaged so tried to reach for it, pain shot up her arm, she grimaced but continued to pursue her phone, success, she grabbed the phone and flipped it open, she hit the down key and the contact book came up, the names looked blurry, _that's strange_, she thought, _I don't normally have eye trouble_. She squinted but no avail, she couldn't make out anyone's name. Then a thought occurred to her, she remembered that Angela's name was her first contact and Booth's number was on speed dial, she tried Angela first because she was the one who rang before, she had tell her best friend why she couldn't call her back ASAP, she had to tell her what happened and tell her to send help.

Three rings later Angela Montenegro picked up.

"Hey sweetie, sorry about the phone tag, been busy, where are you, it's not like you to be late"

Tempe tried to speak but her voice abandoned her throat, all that came out was heavy breathing on Angela's end.

"Hello, Tempe, are you ok?" Somehow Angela always knew something was wrong, Tempe always told her it was her woman's intuition working over time.

She tried again, this time Tempe managed to utter a few words, those being; crash, quick, ditch, Route 88, then the line went dead on both ends.

Angela grabbed her car keys and ran out of the Jeffersonian. On her way she dialled 911 and asked for an ambulance to be sent to Route 88, she told the operator of a car crash and unfortunately her intuition told her that the crash involved Tempe.

On the way to Route 88, Angela phoned Booth.

"Excuse me" Booth apologised to everyone in the FBI boardroom as he answered his cell phone. "Booth".

"Booth, It's Angela, Tempe's been in a car crash on Route 88, come quick, I'm on my way there now and I've called an ambulance"

The expression on Booth's face changed from neutral to fear in about 2 seconds flat, he quickly excused himself and asked one of his fellow agents to take over the slide show presentation for him and he grabbed his jacket and ran out, he had no time to explain, the woman he loved could be seriously hurt. In his rush he forgot all about Angela on the other end of the phone so the phone was still in the call. On Angela's end she could hear noise but couldn't hear Booth talking so she hung up, she knew he was on his way to the scene. Booth's cell lay open on the passenger seat of his cruiser.

Meanwhile back at the crash scene, Tempe was still trying to move her legs, but every time she lifted a knee pain shot up her leg. She was stuck, trapped in her own car in muddy ditch on the side of the road. Every moment of pain and panic she prayed that someone would show up and cut her out of her mechanical prison, she was a prisoner in her own car.

Then she heard a distant whining noise, she tried to see out of her smashed windscreen but couldn't see much, the crushed glass made the windscreen appear translucent, not good, she thought. Then it became clear to her what that whining sound that she heard a moment before was, an ambulance, she could see the flashing red and blue lights through the large hole in her windscreen. At last help was here to save her, she laid back and waited and what happened next became a blur; Paramedics using jaws of life to cut Tempe out of car, voices, blurred faces, Angela's voice, Booth's voice, then blackness as Tempe was whisked into an ambulance and driven off to the nearest hospital, with police escort, a la Booth.

A while later Tempe was in a hospital bed, still unconscious, with tubes going every which way and Angela right beside her. Booth walked in to give Angela an update on the registration of the vehicle that hit Tempe, he also came to check up on Tempe.

"Ok, we found the woman" he said, bursting into the room.

"Woman?" asked Angela.

"Yeah, name's Trudy White, mother of two, has a history of DUI, oh and did I mention she's a huge Dr Temperance Brennan fan, read all her novels and is a member of her Official Fan Club website!"

Angela thought for a second.

"So she deliberately hit Tempe?"

"Yeah. How is she?" he asked.

"She's stable, minor concussion and a broken leg from the impact; she'll have to have physical therapy for at least a couple of months"

"At least she's alive" he says, walking over to her, picks up her hand, it's cold, and kisses it, he sits down on the end of her bed. "I don't know what I would've done if.." he stops, unable to finish the sentence because tears are forming in his eyes, the very thought of losing Tempe broke his heart.

Seeing this Angela moves over to comfort the man her best friend loves, she puts her arm around his left shoulder and rests her head on his right one.

"It's gonna be ok, she'll make it, she's a fighter, you know that" Angela tells him.

They both sit there for a while on the end of Tempe's bed, silently keeping an eye on their friend.

The next morning Tempe was wide awake with the sun, she felt a lot less groggy but a lot more anxious, she hated sitting still for too long, and she had work to do back at the lab. Just as she was about to get out of bed, Booth walked into the room with a huge bunch of sunflowers, Tempe's favourite.

"Hey what do you think you're doing getting out of bed?"

He kinda surprised her.

"I've got work to do" she said, her lame excuse, but it was partly true.

"Not today you don't, and I don't think you can walk with a broken leg" he tells her, looking around the room for an empty vase.

"I hate this"

"I know you do, but hey, I'm here for you right?" he says with his cheesy square jawed, Seeley Booth grin. He spots a nurse.

"Can I have a vase for these sunflowers? Thankyou" The nurse takes the sunflowers from him.

"You got me sunflowers?"

"Yeah aren't they your favourite?"

"How did you know, I never told you, I think"

"Angela told me"

"You sneaky sonovabitch"

Another classic Seeley Booth grin is shown.

He walks over to her and sits down on the chair beside the head of the bed.

"I think we may have found our killer" he tells her.

"Lucy's?"

He nods.

"Who is it?"

"Same person who ran you down and left you for dead yesterday"

"You're joking?

"Nope, Trudy White, turns out she's a huge fan of your's"

"How do you know that she killed Lucy?"

"Because she confessed to it, got it all on tape, I'll show you later. Turns out she wanted you to feel small, the victim, while she wanted to be the killer, she wanted to feel powerful, so in order to achieve that she tries to get rid of all those closest to you, first by drugging and shooting me, then by killing Lucy, my sister and getting her accomplice to kidnap Angela's cousin, which is by the way, Mr Bomb maker"

"Oh my God, you're serious? Have they found Courtney?"

"Yeah she's safe, she's back home with her husband"

"That's great, Ange will be happy"

"Yeah remember bomb maker said he was a huge fan of yours, turns out that wasn't him, but Mrs White, they were having an affair at the time. He broke it off about a month ago, around the same time Mrs White turns to the drink"

"So her plan failed, Bomber man didn't take us out then so she keeps on trying"

"That's right"

"Then Hodgins gets an envelope full of white powder on his doorstep and gets sick. Mrs White is now getting very pleased with her progress and begins to think of ways to take you out, but her evil plan backfires and Hodgins recovers".

"Wait, how was she able to poison your coffee at the bureau? She would've had to have someone on the inside, someone who works at the bureau"

"Well she did, remember your 'partner', Mr Geek 101, Hamish Whittaker?"

"Yeah.."

"He's inside man"

"Oh my god! Wouldn't he get his badge taken off of him for that?"

"Yeah, I was just as shocked, Buck took him in this morning, turns out he's Trudy White's nephew, her sisters boy, and because he was with the FBI, she hired him and told him to transfer to DC so he could get close to me"

"Small world"

"Very".

Tempe sat back in bed and thought about the events that had just taken place, _Lucy Booth's killer had just been arrested, the same women who hired hit men to kill me, my 'partner' is a corrupt cop hired by White to get close to Booth and me, Zelany had no idea, Whittaker probably pleaded to be with me, it all makes sense now, one door opens, another one closes._

"There's one good thing that has come out of this" Tempe said after a time of silence.

"What's that?" Booth asked.

"I don't have to work with Whittaker!"

Booth chuckled and hugged her, glad that his friend and the woman he loved was back to her old self, stubbornness and all.

Case Closed.


End file.
